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General CommentI don't think this song has anything to do with religion... I think it's about what most songs these days are about: "love"

I think it's over a girl he can't get for some reason

"Hold it together, birds of a feather
Nothing but lies and crooked wings
I have the answer, spreading the cancer
You are the faith inside me"

-He's gotta keep his cool but he doesn't know for how long because bird feathers stay in but fall out sooner or later.
-The lies and crooked wings are either she's telling him "I want to be with you" or his friends or his mind is telling him "You can get her"
-He knows he can't get her (that's the answer) and it's spreading like cancer in him. But even though he knows he can't have her, just being with her makes him happy, thus, she is his faith.

-They have to depart and when he's not with her, he likes sad and dead. To help him survive, he needs her. He wants her to remember the happiness they share together.

"Put me to sleep, evil angel
Open your wings, evil angel"

-If he can't be with her at the moment, his only escape is sleep so he wants her to put him to sleep. "Open your wings" refers to "open your heart" and let him in.

"I'm a believer, nothing could be worse
All these imaginary friends
Hiding betrayal, driving the nail
Hopeing to find a savior"

-Like I said before, he knows he can't have her but there is always that little part of us that believes and he is a believer he can get her and that hope is the worst.
-"All these imaginary friends" has to deal with the voices in him telling him what to do, or say or how to act around her.
-"Hiding betrayal, driving the nail" is the way he's betraying himself to think he can have her when he really can't and the nail is the growing pain of his longing.
-"Hopeing to find a savior" to help him through this longing.

"Fly over me, evil angel
Why can't I breathe, evil angel"
-He sees her as an angel (evil because she is a constant reminder of what he doesn't have) and it's a blessing when angels fly over you.
-"Why can't I breathe, evil angel" Either she told him "we can't be together" or "I don't like you like that" has caused him to not breathe or have sudden shock.

General CommentI think this song is about religious people and that the person telling the story is dying and finally realizing that believing in religion was a total waste of time.

Hold it together, birds of a feather
~Those who believe the same flock together
----
Nothing but lies and crooked wings
~The whole religious experience is nothing but lies and deception
----
I have the answer, spreading the cancer
~I now know it was all lies and it's spreading through my beliefs like cancer, causing me to lose my faith.
----
You are the faith inside me
~Evil Angel (Bad religion) you are the faith inside of me.
----

I'm a believer, nothing could be worse
~I'm a believer and now I see it was a sham. Nothing could be worse.
----
All these imaginary friends
~All the things I believed were imaginary.
----
Hiding betrayal, driving the nail
~Religion hides the betrayal they do to others. They lie, cheat and steal to increase their power which drives finally makes believers snap and give up on religion.
----
Hoping to find a savior
~Hoping to find the real truth
-----

General Comment"Put me to sleep, evil angel
Open your wings, evil angel" (first time)
to me it seems like he screams "UP!" afterwards...i don't know what you guys think though...it's about 1:10 in the song when he does it

General CommentYeah... My interpretation is a little unorthodox. And it's completely and totally wrong, but it DOES make sense.

I think it's about early Christians. Like the disciples and such.

"Hold it together, birds of a feather."

Back then Christians were being persecuted daily. Best friends were being killed. That's a lot of emotional trauma. "Hold it together." Birds of a feather is simple. They're in the same boat. They believe the same things, and they can be killed for beliving it.

"Nothing but lies and crooked wings."

Lies and false alleigances. Judas Isacariot?

"I have the answer, spreading the cancer."

Answer about Messiah. The cancer is their message. Jesus himself said, "I come not to bring peace, but war." He knew what he was speaking would cause unrest. Like a cancer.

The correct lyrics are "You are the faith inside of me." Christians believe Jesus lives inside of them.

Its not that far-fetched, and it doesn't have to be about Christianity's early years, or Christianity at all, it could be about any religion that has been persecuted at any time in history; other than "driving the nail" there is nothing to sugest a connection to any specific religion. But using Christianity as an example, I have a few ideas about your explanation.

"Nothing but lies and crooked wings"
I don't think it refers to traitors inside the religion, I think it refers to the world around them. From their point of veiw, all the other pagan religions around them were outright lies, and violated their first commandment (The Lord is your God, thow shalt have no gods before him) Also, I believe you have a misinformed opinion on Judas, but thats a seperate comment.

"Don't leave ... Remember, remember."
He could be praying to God, in which case "remember" is him begging God to remember the covenants and promises he's made. Or he could be talking to his fellow belivers, in which case "remember" is him begging his fellow belivers to stand with him through times of trouble, to "remember" what they believe in.

"Evil Angel"
I don't think hes worshiping a demon, it doesn't fit with the theme of him worshiping God, I think the "Evil Angel" part, refers to how much trouble his religion brings him, "Put me to sleep" is like hes saying, just spare me the suffering, "Open your wings" is like opening his wings to protect him, and sheild him, "Fly over me" is where the "Evil" is emphasized, because he wants the "Evil" that comes with this religion to pass him over, and why can't I breathe is his feelings of being under so much pressure from persecution.

I think the in the second verse is where it starts to focus on betrayers, as indicated by "hiding betrayl" but that only refers the traitors that are otherwise hidden by their supposed alliegance. Driving the nail has nothing to do with Christianity, it refers to the driving the nail thats slowly killing off Christianity, pressuring those who believe in it.

So, like I said nothing to directly refer to Christianity, could be about any religion, but I like your idea on persecution.

"Hold it together.
Birds of a feather.
Nothing but lies and crooked wings."

This verse sets the scene. The main character is struggling with the world around them. Through all of the lies and the evil that surrounds them, they find a soul mate or a kindred spirit.

"I have the answer.
Spreading the cancer.
You are the faith inside me."

The kindred spirit insists that they are not good for the main character. The main character will hear none of it, however, believing that the kindred spirit is a savior, of sorts. They are the main character's tie to sanity.

The kindred spirit now must leave. The main character doesn't want them to, thinking they they won't be able to survive without them. The kindred spirit wants the main character to forget all of their shared experiences and move on, and the main character at the same time urges the kindred spirit to remember those experiences in an attempt to make them stay.

"Put me to sleep evil angel.
Open your wings evil angel."

The main character wants the kindred spirit to return, to use their influence over them to make their life dreamlike with happiness again.

"I'm a believer, nothing could be worse.
All these imaginary friends
Hiding betrayal,
Driving the nail,
Hoping to find a savior."

The main character still believes that the kindred spirit will one day return to them. That belief could not be worse for their mental health. The other friends that the main character thought they had are keeping things from them and doing other things to drive the nail of insanity and/or depression deeper and deeper into their heart. Those other friends ignore the main character's problems and still expect help with their own.

Again, the main character desperately longs for the return of the kindred spirit. Even a mere glance would suffice. The main character finds the aloneness and misery brought on by the kindred spirit's absence so hard to bear that they can hardly breathe.

I hope I wasn't too far off the mark! This is my first song interpretation on this site, so I won't be overly surprised if I am.

My InterpretationShallowBayBandit, that's a good interpretation. Though perhaps it's the heathen in me (I'm a steadfast spiritual atheist) but I think it may apply not just to Christian victims, but to victims OF Christians, in this modern day. In Texas, and probably in many other parts of high-end countries, it's literally illegal to be in office if you do not believe in a higher power. Look it up, it's there. And there's a saying that says 'it doesn't matter what you believe in, so long as it's something'. You could believe in Allah, in Buddha, or in God, so long as you have a religion, it seems to send a message of order and normalcy. But it seems to me that people fear the abnormal, and to have a minority religion or none at all is abnormal. Perhaps he is in a minority religion?

The angel part in the title is what this person thinks of their belief (whatever that may be, so long as they are persecuted for it) and how it's a marvelous and wonderful thing. However, it's 'evil' partially out of irony (that's what everyone else calls it) and partially because of all the pain it's causing this person.

He keeps telling the angel, 'open your wings, fly over me', to show them that it's true, show the world that his beliefs are right, so they will stop persecuting him. As we all know, though, no religion truly shows itself. Perhaps it's a divine joke to keep us guessing...

The part about imaginary friends really gets to me. People, when speaking to those in a smaller (or sometimes even just not-Christian) religion, put them down, tell them that their beliefs are imaginary, that the happiness they have in their heart is imaginary. How hard could that be? To feel so much love in your heart, only to be told it isn't real, and here's a flyer for my church.

General Commentthis is one of their best songs...
sounds to me like two people one of whom has some creepy holod over the other but they stay together even though they're always hurting eacvh other and being bad for each other cos they keep loving each other no matter what
my first explanation is magic demon powers but i realise that breaking benjamin probably didn't write the song about that

General CommentIn my opinion; if you look at the context of the whole album, which is called "Phobia" due to Ben's phobia to flying in airplanes. I associate this song to that in the way that many pilots usually call their planes 'angels.' Therefore in the context of this song, Ben is referring to planes as EVIL angels.

"Hold it together, birds of a feather
Nothing but lies and crooked wings
I have the answer, spreading the cancer"

I don't know if my association may be the correct one or not, but musicians usually write songs about certain things that don't necessarily have many connotations. So I just want to say that I respect all the other opinions and thoughts about this song but in order to understand my opinion I will ask you all to listen this song again now having the context that Ben called this Album "Phobia" reffering to his phobia to airplanes...

My InterpretationFor me this is more about suicide...
Think about it; i have benn triguera this and it can really have a meaning like this and besides evil angel as the devil wants you to suicide yourself